The comments at dinner came just before Dacic declared that the decision was an attempt to make Serbia "humiliated".

Scars of the War

Belgrade, Serbia (Photo: IBTimes UK)

Serbia still physically bears the scars of conflict throughout its capital. Opulent buildings in old Belgrade are still smattered with crude graffiti.

The old ministry of defence building still bears a huge bite out of its side from where a US aircraft dropped a bomb and consumed a large amount of bricks and mortar.

It is sometimes difficult to fathom that it was only around 14 years ago that the country was embroiled in a near decade-long conflict.

Indeed, when former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died only seven years ago, it opened old wounds from the Kosovo war. For the 13 years he was in power, he bulldozed his country into conflict which resulted in hundreds of thousands of people dying.

His legacy was leaving more than 200,000 dead in Bosnia and half the population homeless.

But Dacic, with the nods from his staff, was keen to point out that those on the world stage have short memories and, partly, their lack of public relation campaigns following the war only damaged Serbia's profile for the foreseeable future.

"History is written by the winners and during the time of resolution, we never hired any lobbyists or public relations," said Dacic.

"We thought it wasn't necessary as we couldn't change or correct the past and that our move to progression, and looking into the future, would be enough."

Serbia had undergone a turbulent time but Prime Minister Dacic was keen to point out how it seemed that the US and Europe had forgotten about the atrocities committed against them in the past.

He reeled off the number of 'friendships' the country had forged over the last two centuries, but how after "all that suffering", ranging from Bulgaria attacking Serbia to battles during World War II, "we are still considered a leper."

With a prime minister from the Socialist Party of Serbia, a deputy prime minister from the Serbian Progressive Party and around 11 independent ministers, it is clear that the government is marching to a different beat, from years of manipulated nationalism by Milosevic.

Since the credit crisis, Serbia's unemployment rate has risen to around 25%. It has large amounts of debt that it needs refinancing and reserves are not sufficient enough to finance the government into year-end.

The deputy Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic has also revealed that a loan from the United Arab Emirates is on the cards.

Furthermore, Abbas Ameli-Renani, an emerging markets analyst at RBS debunked misconceptions that the country is on the 'verge of bankruptcy' and that there the country is rife with positive economic signals.

However, it seems that there are some European counterparts are blocking Serbia from progressing because of the political problems of the past.

Dacic negotiated the deal with his Kosovo counterpart, Hashim Thaci, in months of delicate talks in Brussels, but the recent ban from him being able to visit has created a stumbling block over EU membership.

Furthermore, only 10 days after Serbia conducted EU accession talks, a document by Germany and the United Kingdom outlined concerns over its potential membership.

"We feel we are running a marathon, which is difficult enough, but to then we run towards a goal and we are just about there, something like this non-paper or more demands are placed on us," said Dacic.

"Germany told us that the paper was not an official stance, but it just shows how much we have to bear and how much extra we have to do despite following all the set goals placed in front of us."